The mitigating circumstance is the destination of left-handed relief pitcher Joe Thatcher on the disabled list, a move surely to be made before Opening Day on Monday. Fact is, though, it’s not at all unusual for the Padres to enter a season without a southpaw arm in their bullpen.

“Last year we didn’t have a lefty, either,” said manager Bud Black, “and we got off to a 9-3 start.”

There is that. And there’s this.

“I don’t think we opened 2007 with a lefty in the pen,” said closer Heath Bell, “and we went 281/3 innings before we gave up our first run.”

Fewer things in the game are quite as coveted as a lefty pitcher with nasty stuff, but a southpaw with ordinary stuff is simply a different kind of ordinary, a belief Black brought with him from his days as pitching coach of an Angels franchise that happened to be directly across the diamond last night. The Padres beat the Angels 5-3 last night in their final exhibition game against a major league club.

Seeking their fourth straight AL West title, the Angels have just one lefty in their pen, and that’s closer Brian Fuentes. When the Halos won the World Series of 2002, they’d begun the season sans a southpaw reliever, though they eventually moved lefty Scott Schoeneweis from the rotation to the pen.

Actually, the lefty-lefty thing remains kind of a sore subject around here. The Angels didn’t use a single lefty out of the bullpen in 2004, but in the 10th inning of Game 3 of the Division Series, Scioscia brought Game 1 starter Jarrod Washburn in to pitch to left-handed slugger David Ortiz. The Boston Red Sox slugger launched Washburn’s first pitch out of Fenway Park for a series-sweeping homer.

“From Day One, we’ve had the same philosophy about the bullpen,” said Scioscia, referring to himself and Black. “In a perfect world, if you have a lefty-righty balance down there, that’s great, but you don’t want to force it at the expense of power arms that can get anybody out. If you have four or five powerful lefty arms down there, you wouldn’t necessarily subtract one to get a righty in the mix. Good arms are good arms. You take the best six or seven arms you’ve got.”

Of course, Scioscia has been blessed over the years with right-handed relievers who can stymie hitters on both sides of the plate, most notably Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez.

“It becomes a bigger deal if you have seven righties who can’t get left-handers out,” said Black last night. “Once the season begins, if that does occur, then we’ll have to adjust.”

For his part, Black now has such a righty in Mike Adams, who allowed only a .130 average to lefties last year while striking out more of them per at-bat than righties.

Not to suggest that the Padres won’t be eager for Thatcher, whose shoulder problem hasn’t allowed him to pitch in a game since March 19, to get through his imminent stint on the 15-day disabled list. In a bullpen that led the majors in strikeouts last season, Thatcher had a whiff-to-walk ratio of 5.50 versus lefties, 1.83 vs. righties.

Making a strong impression here last night was Cesar Ramos, a left-hander who started 15 games for Portland and has been optioned to AAA again this year. Entering the game with a 2-1 lead, a runner on base and no outs in the fifth, Ramos induced a fly-out from Bobby Abreu and struck out Torii Hunter and Hideki Matsui.

Stairs steps up

Speaking of left-handed bats off the bench, veteran pinch-hitter Matt Stairs has been informed that he’ll be a major leaguer again in 2010, that after signing a minor league contract with the Padres at 42.

Notable

•A three-run blast by Kyle Blanks gave the Padres a 5-1 lead over the Angels and their 10th home run in four games. The Padres won 5-3. Scott Hairston brought home the Padres’ first two runs with a double and a fielder’s choice. Chris Young started on the mound, throwing 45 strikes and 74 pitches overall.